Net neutrality debate 'controlled by bots'

[Sunlei]

More than 80% of the comments submitted to a US regulator on the future of net neutrality came from bots, according to researchers. Data analytics company Gravwell said only 17.4% of the comments were unique.

People who submitted comments directly to the FCC website had been "overwhelming in support of net neutrality regulations", lead researcher Corey Thuen said.

In contrast, those that were submitted via the FCC-approved platform for bulk submissions had been anti-net neutrality.

Mr Thuen said: "Seeing a clear difference of opinion between bulk submitted comments versus those that came in via the FCC comment page, we're forced to conclude that either the nature of submission method has some direct correlation with political opinion, or someone is telling lies on the internet."

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41497342

"Bot writers don't talk about who their clients are and in the US, while political actors have to disclose if they have a social media consultancy, if that agency then uses sub-contractors, the paper trail disappears quickly."

[Sunlei]

1. 'Bots' spam FCC website over proposed net neutrality reversal (another time in May)

"Someone has gone out of their way to make these seem like real submissions," wrote Chris Sinchok in a blog post about the apparently automated activity.

Having downloaded the comments and associated data, Mr Sinchok noticed that the names and email addresses associated with thousands of them also turned up in lists of personal data stolen from websites.

He told the BBC that this suggested someone might be using information collected from breached databases to make the submissions look more authentic.

"It really seems like this is getting pooled from some place in an automated fashion and it's coming in at unreasonable rates," he said

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39950399